Unit Spotlight – Department of Anthropology and Geography

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The Department of Anthropology and Geography is part of the College of Liberal Arts and offers undergraduate and graduate programs that enable students to examine the evolution of the human condition and its contemporary manifestations with a special focus on human-environmental interactions. The department offers a Bachelor of Arts in Anthropology, with concentrations in Biological AnthropologyArchaeology, and Cultural Anthropology, and a Bachelor of Science in Geography, as well as a Certificate in Museum and Cultural Heritage StudiesGraduate programs include a Master of Arts and a Ph.D. in Anthropology.  

Students in our programs have various and numerous opportunities to gain research and internship experiences for careers in anthropology and geography. Undergraduates and grad students engage in research methods to gain competency with laboratory equipment and tools through opportunities in faculty laboratories and centers. Labs and research spaces specialize in areas of faculty expertise, including Archaeology and Remote Sensing, Primate Origins, 3D Imaging and Analysis Lab, Biogeography, Zooarchaeology, Hominin Paleoecology, and Ethnography. Students also complete practicum and internships in our Archaeological Repository or with partner organizations where they learn skills such as how to catalog collections materials and exhibit fossils, artifacts, and other cultural resources.  

The department’s Archaeology Field School (operating since 1969), Paleontology Field School, and Land Change Science Field School (starting Summer 2023) also provide valuable hands-on experiences for students to gain familiarity with tasks and demands of anthropology and geography research and careers. 

Nearly 30 faculty members engage in scholarship, research, and outreach across our concentrations. Chair and Professor Mica Glantz leads the department and specializes in research on the biogeography of the Neandertals, including examinations of their dental and craniofacial morphology. Anthropology and Geography faculty and students conduct sponsored research and fieldwork across Colorado and around the world, studying topics ranging from climate change, gender equity and violence, human evolution and development, and disaster management. Based on data from the National Science Foundation’s Higher Education Research and Development Survey, CSU ranked tenth nationally in terms of anthropology research funding among U.S. universities in 2020. 

Recent and active sponsored research programs span department concentrations in Biological Anthropology, Archaeology, Cultural Anthropology, and Geography.  

Highlights include: 

  • Professor of Cultural Anthropology Kathleen Galvin, named a University Distinguished Professor in 2022, has been the lead investigator on more than $2 million of sponsored-research projects throughout her career. Galvin studies and supports collaborative and adaptive management toward sustainable livelihoods and conservation in dryland regions around the world. 
  • Assistant Professor of Archaeology Edward Henry and Professor of Geography Stephen Leisz, with colleagues from other universities and tribal partners, were recently awarded National Science Foundation funds to create a digital atlas of Cahokia, the preeminent North American archaeological site encompassing a Native American urban settlement of the Mississippian Culture, circa 1050-1300 C.E.  
  • Professor Emeritus of Cultural Anthropology Kate Browne leads several active sponsored-research programs, with funding from the National Science Foundation. Among her projects, Browne recently studied cultural and social barriers that contributed to COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy in Pueblo County, Colorado. 
  • Professor of Geography Jason Sibold leads research in Rocky Mountain National Park, with funding from the National Park Service, to understand the drivers and interplay of climate change and fire. Sibold has received nearly $2.3 million in funding research during his time at CSU to study and model these environmental interactions and dynamics and to help inform land-management decisions in mountain ecosystems and communities.  
  • Assistant Professor Adrienne Cohen has been awarded a Wenner-Gren Foundation grant to study rock climbers’ relationships, values, and “intimacies” toward the places they climb. 
  • Professor of Archaeology Jason LaBelle also leads NPS-sponsored research in Rocky Mountain to survey high-alpine archaeological sites and better understand the migrations and settlements of Indigenous peoples in Colorado 10,000-12,000 years ago. 
  • Overall, Anthropology and Geography faculty have received more than $6 million in sponsored research as primary investigators alone, dating back to 1987. 

Anthropology and Geography also aims to make its fields of study more accessible to incoming college students as well as primary and secondary school students. Department faculty, students and staff lead the Talking Anthropology and Geography Trunk Show program. This innovative program supports field trips, school and group visits, and other educational activities to introduce learning and career opportunities in anthropology and geography, and the vital roles that anthropologists and geographers play in addressing complex global challenges. 

The College of Liberal Arts is supported by Research Administrators Catherine Kane and Eden Trujillo and OSP Team 5 with Senior Research Administrator, Catherine Douras, and Research Administrator, Sheila Arnold.  

We hope you are enjoying learning about the different units at CSU and the incredible research being accomplished across campus. Let us know if OSP can spotlight your unit by emailing [email protected]

 

Blog post by Josh Zaffos, Communications Specialist, Department of Anthropology and Geography